Author's Note: This is the second and last installment
on ice production continued from last week.

How I came upon the photo showing the ice storage houses
at Reservior No. 2 is another interesting part of the long search
to bring all the elements of this story together. I had searched for
such a photo but without success until about eight or nine months
ago when I had a telephone call from Charles Mizen, Bascom.

He explained that at Atlas, where he works, often someone
on breaks will have a copy of The Review Times with a Potluck article,
which is usually the subject of discussion. He then told me that he
had a set of books with historical photos of this area and thought
I might like to see them. In one of the books, there was an excellent
photo of Reservoir No. 2, the Waterworks old tower, also the ice storage
houses used with this story.

In my earlier research, I had discussed the subject
with Harold Davis, Lakeview Drive, well-known Fostorian and regular
reader of Potluck. I later showed him a copy of the photo showing
the ice storage houses and he exclaimed "that's them".

Only the old-timers will remember how ice was utilized
in the home to preserve food. Someone invented the ice check, ice
refrigerator, or whatever you may choose to call it. They were wood
cabinets, approximately 4 1/2 feet high. the blocks of ice were put
in a compartment on the top or side, the opening being a hinged on
top or a door in the front.

The ice chilled the interior air and it flowed downward
through openings to keep the food placed on shelved cool. As the ice
melted the water dripped through a tube to a pan placed under the
refrigerator.

Consumers got their ice by horse-drawn delivery wagons,
and later by trucks. I remember going to the ice house with my little
red wagon. Consumers had a card they would place in the window or
door facing the street, indicating if they wanted ice. The card was
made so that it could be rotated to show figures - 25, 50, 75, 100
(indicating pounds) - of ice they wanted.

When the ice man came, the kids in the neighborhood
gathered to get the small splinters of ice which often was available
when they cut a large cake of ice into small sizes.

Without an ice refrigerator, the butter (or margarine)
became soft, and milk didn't keep very long. Meat and other perishables
also spoiled. Every household with an ice refrigerator had an ice
pick to chip ice from the large cake to provide iced drinks. At our
house, we still have a silver butter dish with a lower compartment
for chipped ice to keep the butter from melting on hot days.

While I was scrambling around trying to locate all the
photos and information for this article, Wilfred Lonsway, South Poplar
St. and a regular Potluck reader, gave me a copy of "Farmland News"
published in Archbold. In it was an article about ice harvesting as
it was carried in a number of northwestern Ohio communities many years
ago.

Through the courtesy of Jerry Rohrs, editor of that
publication, we are able to show readers a photo of Lorenz witte rural
Hamler, who is a survivor of ice cutting days. He was only 10 or 11
when he helped his grandfather and father.

Others in the Archbold area who recall their own ice
cutting days or the stories passed on to them by others are:

Arthur Gerken, Napoleon, who cut ice from his father's
pond and also from the Maumee River in the early 30's; Andrew Baker,
West Unity, cut ice with a cross-cut saw. His father and grandfather
cut ice from their farm pond southwest of Maumee prior to 1918; Jesse
Wagner of McClure says his father and five sons cut ice from the Maumee
River also.

Glenn Rufenacht still lives near the Howard Miller pond,
an old gravel pit, near Pettisville where he and his father in-law
cut ice in the early 1920's. They also cut ice from other ponds in
that area. The demand for ice was so great they formed a company and
rented operators and machines to do the cutting. Later Rufenacht helped
build a machine using a motocycle engine to run a buzz saw to do the
cutting. They also built an elevator to convey the ice blocks to the
storage house.

Ice harvesting was probably practiced all over the northern
portions of the United States wherever there were rivers, ponds, lakes
and reservoirs. Water supply and cold weather were the two ingredients.

Mr. Charles Clark, in his lecture on ice harvesting,
points out that at one time ice a leading U.S. export, second only
to cotton.

Consumers were not the only ones who benefitted from
the use of ice to keep perishable foods in the home. Merchants and
the food industry used large quantities of ice also. Restaurants needed
ice to keep foods from spoiling. Packers and shippers of meat, poultry
and dairy products also used ice for preservation of their products.

Back in those days, nearly every town and city has one
or more ice cream manufactureres who needed ice for freezing and packing
and for soda fountains.

Business places and offices all had drinking water dispensers
which used ice for cooling. And so the list of uses for ice were many.
It was almost indispensable and in great demand.

Whether we ever return to ice harvesting days is debatable,
however, thanks to Mr. Clark and his efforts to keep the knowledge
of the art alive, and if his prediction is true, there will be those
who know how to use the tools of the trade.

Mr. Clark in a letter to me received after this article
was written, informed me that he has started an Ice Harvesters Club
and publishes a quarterly newsletter. Annal dues are $5. Anyone interested
can write to Ice Harvesters Club, c/o Nancy redfern, Cedar Falls Historical
Society, 303 Clay St., Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613.

Also, Clark is still collecting old ice tools. Write
to him at 2 Mortimer Dr., Old Greenwich, conn. 06870 if you have any
you wish to part with.

Acknowledgements: Farmland News for photo and permission
to reprint data; Sam Luman for local data.